Tinplate Times

Tinplate Times Profile: Joe Mania

Tinplate Times: Please tell us about
yourself, Joe.

Joe Mania: I was born, raised and
still live in the great state of New Jersey. I am married to JoAnn. Our lives
intermingled, but we never actually “met” until age 17. We have
one daughter, Danielle, age 16, who, fortunately, has an interest in old toys
and trains. I am employed by the U.S. Postal Service working in many positions
for over 26 years.

Tinplate Times: What are some of your
other interests besides tinplate toy trains?

Joe Mania: Some other interests of
mine include collecting old toys, Arcade equipment (although we’ve whittled
the collection down to a single Jukebox and 5 Pinball machines) and vintage
Christmas decorations. We also have a few automobiles including a 1964 ½
Mustang, a 1969 Chevelle Malibu and a 1980 Corvette.

Tinplate Times: Tell us about your
train club memberships and affiliations.

Joe Mania: I belong to the TCA, TTOS,
and LCCA. I have the lowest active number in the Lionel Railroader Club (if
that means anything). I joined at age 12 in 1976. I currently serve on the TCA
Standards Committee, the Library Committee, as chairman of the Lionel Postwar
Parts Subcommittee, the Internet Committee, and co-chair of the Toy Train Restoration
Concours d’Elegance (more on that soon).

Tinplate Times: How and when did you
get interested in producing reproduction tinplate items for resale?

Joe Mania: In 1992 Jim Cohen offered
the tooling and equipment to reproduce the 2-7/8 Inch Gauge line. I called him
to discuss it. He said the best thing to do would be to spend the day with him
so he could explain everything. So I did. It was overwhelming at first. People
just don't understand the complexity. They think the metal goes in one side
of a punch press and trains pour out the other. It just isn't that simple. There
are castings that need to be machined, metal parts fabricated and formed. Gears
need to be cut, motors wound. There's a lot to it. Then you have to solder it
all together and paint everything.

Since I had been repairing and restoring trains for quite a
while before that I figured I’d give it a shot. Jim nicely suggested that
I go home and think about it for a while. He had sold the tooling for the Lionel
No. 5, 6 and 7 locomotives about 10 years prior to someone that he knew couldn’t
handle the project. But the man insisted on purchasing everything so Jim sold
it. The purchaser never produced a single locomotive. Jim didn’t want
the 2-7/8 inch tooling to die like that, so he said as far as he was concerned
it was sold, and I could take as long as I needed to make a decision one way
or the other. A few days later I decided and made plans to pick everything up.
Jim also stressed that just because I took the tooling home the relationship
wasn’t over. He continued to help me with all the aspects of producing
the parts, assembling and finishing. We still collaborate on a few things.

Five years later the fellow who bought the No. 5,6 & 7 tooling
contacted me and we struck a deal for that tooling. That’s how I got into
Standard Gauge.

Tinplate Times: Do you have a background
or training as a machinist?

Joe Mania: I didn’t at the time.
I did know that there was a small machine shop on the field of a small municipal
airport that I flew out of. I figured I’d see if he could do some of the
machining for me. I walked into the shop and saw a few showcases full of different
items including trains on display. What a stroke of luck! A machinist that collects
trains! Anyway, we started talking. Dick Neumeister, the owner of B&N Tool
and Die, and I hit it off right from the start and he became one of my closest
friends. He suggested that I learn to do the work myself rather than rely on
outside help. Through him I acquired some equipment and he taught me how to
use it and how to accurately produce the parts needed. Once he saw that I could
do that he began to teach me the art of tool and die work. He stressed that
there is quite a difference between a machinist and a toolmaker. The machinist
is skilled at making a part with the machines and tools available to him. It’s
the toolmaker that makes those machines and tools. After a while I had essentially
completed an apprenticeship in tool making. I still need a hand now and then,
but I get by somehow. It’s still nice to be able to draw on over 45 years
of experience. Dick is now semi retired and I have recently purchased B&N
Tool and Die.

Tinplate Times: How and when did you
acquire the presses and tooling that you use?

Joe Mania: My first lathe was purchased
soon after I bought the 2-7/8 inch tooling. A few years later I purchased my
first punch press (before that I would go to Jim Cohen’s and use one of
his if needed). Since I had access to all the machinery at B&N Tool and
Die, I didn’t need much heavy stuff here. I got by with the lathe, drill
press, one punch press, sheet metal shear, a couple brakes, slip roll, a couple
arbor presses, some grinders, tumblers, soldering equipment and paint equipment.
That was the bare minimum needed for production. Currently I have everything
needed to produce the tooling also.

Making Day Coach Sides

Tinplate Times: Is your shop in your
home?

Joe Mania: Yes, it is split between
the basement and another building, The Barn. The basement has room for some
small lathes, and some sheet metal equipment, plus all assembly tools. The Barn
has the larger equipment, four milling machines, two larger lathes, five punch
presses, a screw machine, etc.

Tinplate Times: What are the special
challenges of mass producing tinplate reproductions in a small shop?

Joe Mania: There is no such thing
as “mass production” on these early pieces. They are basically hand
built, each and every one. They took the original manufacturers a long time
to build and they take me a long time. There is no tab construction. Some of
the bodies are over 50 parts, each hand formed and each hand soldered together.
Just the bodies on some 2-7/8 inch pieces take hours just to assemble. It’s
little wonder the entire line was abandoned so quickly. Standard Gauge is a
little better because it eliminates a lot of the castings which require a tremendous
amount of finishing. Plus the motors are somewhat simpler to produce. Yet the
bodies are largely hand formed and soldered. True “mass production”
didn’t hit Lionel until around 1923. My basis for that statement is that
cast iron and wood is virtually eliminated from the line, tab and slot construction
is used much more widely, and soldered construction, although still used in
some areas, is all but eliminated.

Making No. 3 Trolley Sides

Tinplate Times: Would you like to
be able to operate JLM Reproductions full time? Would it be viable economically?

Joe Mania: I would love to pursue
this as a full time venture and as of January 1, 2009 it will be. Economically
viable? I guess we’ll see. I have a lot of things I’d like to produce,
but have not had the time. Now I hope to. We’re a bit diversified, so
maybe it’ll work out. Besides the reproductions, I still do repairs on
all types and ages of toy trains and accessories. I also do full restorations
on prewar items. I offer a full machine shop service. For those that didn’t
know, we recently acquired all the tooling and equipment from Jerry Butler to
produce Restoration Rubber Stamps. We offer a lot, ya just gotta hope the hobby
stays around!

Tinplate Times: How do you select
which items to reproduce?

Joe Mania: Typically, you shoot for
the rare and unusual. The 2-7/8 inch line is the perfect example. Many people
have never even seen a piece in person. Those who have seen an item or two have
probably never seen it run. It has a certain charm, bouncing on its sprung wheels,
and a certain sound too. The wheel flange coming down on the square edge of
the rail makes a scraping sound sometimes. It sounds like it needs oil, but
it’s the wheel contacting the track. You wouldn’t know that unless
you heard one run. Other than that, they’re incredibly quiet. Not bad
for technology that predates the Model T and also predates electricity in many
places.

When it came to the Carlisle & Finch repros, it all started
with a parts request. I was asked to make a gear. It was no problem. Then it
went on to “if you can make that, can you make this?” Pretty soon
I was making almost everything in a locomotive. So I made the rest of the tooling.
The C&F guys seem happy because now they have access to parts that were
previously unavailable. They offer up suggestions and if it looks like it’s
something I can do, I look into it.

Currently (although we have not yet produced some of the following)
we have the tooling and equipment to produce:

Probably a few more things I’ve forgotten about, but that’ll
keep me busy for a little while!

Tinplate Times: Have your tinplate
reproductions appeared in train books?

Joe Mania: The reproductions that
I offer have been shown in several books including "Greenberg’s Guide
to Standard Gauge & 2-7/8 Inch Gauge," Peter Riddle's book "Americas
Standard Gauge Electric Trains" and David Doyle’s book "Standard
Catalog of Lionel Trains 1900-1942."

Tinplate Times: What was your first
train set, Joe?

Joe Mania: My first train set was
my father's Lionel Scout set. He got it in 1949 and I still have it on a shelf
in my train room. It's pretty special to me and I have a certain fondness for
Scout sets, even though most collectors dismiss them as junk. Had it not been
for an inexpensive set like that, I may have never become involved in this hobby.
Not long after I took it out of storage we found a small shop in a neighboring
town that carried Lionel trains and did repairs. Once I saw the layout at The
Hazlet Train Stop, I became hooked. It must have been apparent to the owner
because after a few months of hanging around, I was offered a job repairing
trains. So at age ten I was already learning how to repair and restore toy trains.

Tinplate Times: Do you have an operating
layout currently?

Joe Mania: We currently have several
year round layouts ranging from 4' x4' to 16' x 32'.

The smallest is prewar 0 gauge and it built in a very period
style. It has simple painted roads and grass areas. All the trains and accessories
are era correct. The Super 0 layout is L shaped, 27 feet long and 10 wide at
its widest. Everything on it is typical of a home layout of the mid to late
1950s. It's almost exclusively Lionel and Plasticville. Dozens of plastic dime
store cars and sawdust grass.

The largest is what I call my biggest reproduction project,
a full size, absolutely authentic replica of the 1949 Lionel Showroom Layout.
I’ve had a layout up year round since I was 9 and continue to do so today.

Tinplate Times: What are your favorite
trains to collect?

Joe Mania: As far was what trains
I like to collect, it’s pretty varied. At first it was Postwar Lionel,
but it has slowly shifted to early Prewar offerings from any manufacturer. As
I got involved in the reproduction of some of these pieces, I gained a better
appreciation of the makers and what obstacles they may have encountered. Although
some of the examples of early electric trains are crude by today’s standards,
the production of parts and the subsequent assembly of those parts is more art
than mechanics.

Although I could go on for pages just on the idiosyncrasies
of cast iron, just suffice it to say that even though it was considered the
plastic of its day, cast iron is a rather difficult medium to work with. Many
factors come in to play and the resulting parts are far from identical. This
means each part in an assembly has to be fitted to the next one and so on. Time
consuming and tedious work, but the results have a certain charm. Even the simple
bodies could require hours of soldering of separate parts together. My wife
JoAnn is into just about anything lithographed. So her interests run the gamut
from early American Flyer and IVES to late Prewar Lionel all the way up to 1960s
Marx.

Tinplate Times: What trains do you
enjoy operating the most?

Joe Mania: To be honest as to what
trains I like to operate, I would have to go with the Postwar Lionel on the
Showroom Layout. As far as toy train production goes, I feel that the period
from just after World War II until 1950 was the pinnacle of the art for all
the major manufacturers. After that, I can honestly say that I could stare for
hours at a Lionel 2-7/8 inch gauge piece go in circles. Probably more due to
the fact that it was the state of the art at its time, its simplicity of design
and its crude charm. They have a certain unembarrassed manor. The oversize motors
are usually visible; the paint is far from neat in most cases. Lettering varies
from very neatly applied to crooked and uneven. In the case of Lionel 2-7/8
Inch Gauge, the sprung axles make the cars bounce, with Carlisle and Finch,
the wheels are simply nailed to the wooden frames, which makes them wobble.
Completely unacceptable for trains manufactured today, but no one would change
anything to take that toy like demeanor away from a vintage piece.

Tinplate Times: What train from your
collection is your top favorite?

Joe Mania: I would be hard pressed
to single out a piece from my collection as the single one that I would have
to keep. It would either be my Lionel 2-7/8 Inch B&O #5 (my first 2 7/8
Inch piece) or my fathers Scout set (for the reasons stated before).

Tinplate Times: What train that you
don't own would you most like to acquire?

Joe Mania: It’s hard for me
to pin down a certain train or set that I would like to have most. I’m
satisfied with what I have now but am always looking to add to my collection.
My interest seems to go on cycles. I sometimes see something that just for some
reason appeals to me. That’s what I really want at the moment. Looking
at it from a manufacturer’s point of view, everything is desirable in
its own right. Marx is sometimes regarded as cheap junk. Nothing is further
from the truth. They were filling a price point and what they offered at that
point was of phenomenal quality. Lionel was always the high end. Take a look
at a State Set or Blue Comet. Most people have no idea what kind of tooling
it takes to create the parts needed to produce something of that magnitude.
For example, the bell used on the Lionel #7 or #1912 locomotives requires 8
separate tools to produce. Yes, it’s a seemingly simple part, but the
process behind it is incredibly complex.

Tinplate Times: So, are you still
adding to your collection?

Joe Mania: I’m always adding
to my collection whether it’s a small accessory, a single car, a complete
set or more. We try and hit all the local shows as well as York. Granted the
local shows are smaller and fewer the last bunch of years, but they’re
still enjoyable.

Tinplate Times: How do you feel about
on line trading?

Joe Mania: The Internet and eBay have
certainly had a huge effect on collecting. It seems to have leveled the playing
field a bit and opened up the opportunity to purchase certain items to those
without access to meets. Unfortunately, it has also opened up the opportunity
to defraud. This has little to do with the venues; it has to do with the participants.
I’ve both bought and sold on eBay, and I can honestly say I’ve done
okay. Maybe I’m overly cautious and let some things go that I may have
won because something just didn’t feel right, but that’s me. I would
still rather look at an item, touch it, talk to the seller etc. That’s
the real fun. I’m lucky to have been involved way before the Internet
days. I’ve met some incredible people along the way. Some of my friends
I’ve known for most of my life are a result of these toys. Maybe I’m
getting old or nostalgic, but the Internet dealings can be a bit impersonal.
Not bad, just not the same as it used to be. Currently a group of us attend
some shows together. We all meet in the morning at one of our homes, pile into
one car, talk and laugh on the way up, walk around and talk to friends we only
see at meets, meet up and pile into the car again. Almost always stop for breakfast
or lunch and talk about or purchases or experiences of the day on the way home.
It's just not the same as buying something online.

Tinplate Times: What is the real appeal
of tinplate to you?

Joe Mania: To me the most appealing
aspect of toy trains is just that they’re toys. I always try and explain
that to new visitors. There’s a difference between “toy” trains
and “model” trains. I keep using the word “charm” but
that’s exactly the quality that toy trains exhibit. Be it the use of materials,
the out of proportion sizes, completely unrealistic manners or whimsical quality,
they appeal to some in a certain way. Hard to explain, but if you’ve read
this far, you understand.

Tinplate Times: Looking toward the
future, what do you see down the road for tinplate collecting?

Joe Mania: I think that there will
still be an interest in old things, whether they are toy trains or whatever,
far into the future. As far as my business goes, restorations are on the rise.
People are fixing up what was once regarded as a parts donor. Maybe it’s
the fact that reproduction parts are more readily available now or that most
of the good stuff is in collections. Happily, it's people younger than you would
expect doing this. Very few are around who remember these toys as a child. Many
are discovering these toys and are immediately drawn to their appeal. I have
many customers that use vintage toys and trains as decorations in their homes.
They are not collectors per se, but just enjoy them just as someone would a
Tiffany lamp or Stickley furniture.